Archives for May 2011

This post caught my eye on Moconews. Netflix product guy explains why their app is limited to a small number of Android phones. Fragmentation among Android OS handsets is already rearing its ugly head for developers who must now make tough decisions about which handsets to support.

Streaming video on handsets has some specific challenges, so I’m not surprised that Neflix ran into this issue. Porting apps to a new handsets made Java and Brew app development painful in the past and I understand the challenge: Will porting to this next handset provide good return on investment?

For many publishers, fragmentation will (and should) motivate them to create compelling mobile and tablet experiences using these devices’ web browsers. HTML5 will make this easier for many. In fact, HTML 5 in common browsers can already rival many of the native apps created by publishers.

I recommend that publishers start planning and building this way today. Why? Because the inevitable penetration of Android across so many different handsets and tablets means the handwriting is on the wall:

This is a current topic of discussion among our publisher clients. I was asked to write this piece for Adexchanger.com to explain exactly why. This explains the problem and also helps illustrate why publishers need to think beyond their mobile app and tablet app silos and embrace the browsers on devices. Don’t take my word for it. Look at the latest data on social/mobile interactions and actually try your products on these devices….Then let me know.

Have you ever clicked your Facebook or Twitter links from within Facebook’s native iPhone app? From within Twitter’s app? Try it and comment, please. Either here or on Adexchanger.com

This is good news for magazine publishers. While I’m not sure the iPad or tablets in general are the answer to all that ails the magazine industry, this should at least give publishers a fighting chance on tablets. Could this mean that apple is beginning to understand the value of playing nicely with content owners? We’ll have to wait and see, but this is a step in the right direction.

On the other hand, why have so many publishers decided that an app is the only way to charge for their content. What’s the most-used app on iPads? Safari (the web browser). With the increasing importance of social media as the means to content discovery, dynamic technologies that quickly connect users to content will prevail….Not branded silos of tech and content like apps.